All posts tagged Brian Walton

The Cardinals returned home to Busch on Friday, after earning a split series (2-2) against the Arizona Diamondbacks in Phoenix during the week. My topic de jure, Stephen Piscotty, had a nice series in that ballpark, going 9 for 20 with a home run, a stolen base, and six RBI. I am much more impressed with the home run and the stolen base than I am with the RBI. RBI are more of a function of circumstance and luck than they are a particular skill, but they are a stat that is still popular with the faithful, so I cite them, but they are not a particularly useful measure of anything. Nevertheless, Piscotty had a good series there, and well, that is one of many reasons why I chose to write about him.

Piscotty was a first round draft choice by the Cardinals in the 2012 draft, and though draft order doesn’t necessarily have relevance in predicting future performance (ahem…Pete Kozma), it does give some insight into how the Cardinals viewed Piscotty as a potential big leaguer. You can also give some thanks to Albert Pujols for Stephen Piscotty, because it was his decision to hightail it to Los Angeles for the mucho dinero that made Stephen Piscotty possible, as he was the supplemental pick the Cardinals received for Pujols.

Piscotty moved swiftly through the lower levels of the minors, playing what was left of 2012 after he signed in the Low-A Midwest League, skipping the short season Rookie Leagues entirely (which is not uncommon for college picks of Piscotty’s caliber). Piscotty was drafted as a third baseman, but the Cardinals quickly realized that was not a position he was well suited for so he was moved to the outfield. He started 2013 in High-A Palm Beach, but finished it in Double-A Springfield. He unfortunately languished for 1 1/2 seasons in Triple-A Memphis, in part because there was no spot for him in the big league club, and in part because the organization felt he wasn’t quite ready. He also took a back seat to another outfield prospect, Oscar Taveras, and that is a sad story I choose not to dwell on.

It was in that partial season at Springfield that I first got a glimpse of Stephen Piscotty. I occasionally travel to Springfield to catch a game, as it an easy two hour drive from my home in Jefferson City, MO. Brian Walton, who covers the Cardinals minor league system for his site, The Cardinal Nation (who is now my boss, so to speak, as I am a contributing writer there) happened to be at that game also and he mentioned to me that I might want to watch this kid named Stephen Piscotty closely. I did, and I was impressed. From that point on, I followed his progress through Memphis and was quite excited last season when he got the call up to St. Louis.

Piscotty had a very good half season in St. Louis, he, along with Randal Grichuk and Tommy Pham, contributed significantly to the Cardinals 100 win season in the second half of 2015. With the defection of right fielder Jason Heyward over to the Dark Side of Chicago, Piscotty was poised to be an everyday player in right field for the Cardinals this season. He hasn’t disappointed.

Piscotty has filled in quite nicely for the turncoat Heyward, though the sample size is extremely small, so any defensive numbers for him are quite meaningless (I am talking to you Derrick Goold, you should really know better). At the plate, Piscotty has more than surpassed Heyward so far, again, small sample size, but I am doing it anyway because I can {raspberry, you Benedict Arnold}** However, based on the imprecise eye test, I believe Piscotty to be a more than adequate right fielder.

Piscotty, though, has kind of been overlooked in all the Aledmys Diaz/Jeremy Hazelbaker hullaballoo, most probably because he isn’t new and shiny anymore. Frankly, I see Piscotty as being more of a contributor than either of those guys, most especially Hazelbaker. Hazelbaker most likely will be boarding the Memphis Shuttle soon, with the return of Tommy Pham, unless someone else gets hurt (knock on wood it doesn’t happen). Diaz is having a terrific small sample size, but will cool off eventually, when we will see better what we truly have. Both Diaz and Piscotty are BABIPing the hell out of the ball, so it’s going to take more time to see the true talent level of both. I just have more faith in a consistent Piscotty, than I do Diaz.

Moreover, Piscotty is a brainiac, for which I am an unrepentant sucker. An engineering degree from Stanford is nothing to sneeze at, even my law degree pales in comparison (maybe if I had gotten it at Stanford it wouldn’t, but I digress).

So, to conclude this mess, I am declaring that Stephen Piscotty is praiseworthy. My brand new Piscotty t-shirt is proof of that. Now if I could just get it autographed, that would be cool.

Thank you for reading.

ST LOUIS, MO – OCTOBER 09: Stephen Piscotty #55 of the St. Louis Cardinals celebrates scoring a run in the first inning against the Chicago Cubs during game one of the National League Division Series at Busch Stadium on October 9, 2015 in St Louis, Missouri. (Photo by Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images)

** Seriously, I am just kidding, Heyward is a great player who I like.